The Nintendo 3DS and 3DS LL have now sold more than 10 million hardware units between them in Japan, thanks in part to boosted holiday sales.

According to data from Japan's Enterbrain, the recent 3DS installment of Animal Crossing, which launched in Japan on November 8, proved very popular and also helped to drive 3DS sales towards the end of 2012.

During the fourth week of December alone, more than 400,000 3DS units were sold.

This means that the Nintendo 3DS took 98 weeks to reach the 10 million units milestone in Japan. In comparison, the original Nintendo DS and DS Lite models took 61 weeks to reach this milestone.

The total number of Nintendo 3DS units sold in the U.S. currently stands at 6.46 million.